Real Madrid signing Vinicius Junior meets up with Ronaldinho

After travelling to Spain and the US over Christmas, Flamengo's Real Madrid player-to-be is back in Brazil getting ready for the new season.

Vinicius Junior has got back down to work after spending his holidays over the festive season in Brazil, Spain and the United States. The Brazilian starlet travelled to Madrid shortly ahead of Christmas for a tour of the facilities at Real Madrid and to undergo physical tests at Los Blancos' Valdebebas training ground, before watching El Clásico against Barcelona from the Santiago Bernabéu stands and meeting his future team-mates in the dressing room.

Vinicius expected to explode in 2018

The Flamengo attacker, who is due to move to Real in summer 2019 - but could arrive earlier - then took a few days out in the US with family and friends, and has now returned to Brazil to get himself back into shape for the new season. 2018 has been marked out as the year in which Vinicius is expected to definitively take off as a footballer, and establish himself as a regular in the Rio de Janeiro club's starting XI.

Vinicius on Ronaldinho: "From another planet!"

And the 17-year-old also found time to meet up with Ronaldinho Gaucho ahead of the new campaign, taking to Instagram to post a photograph of himself alongside the Barcelona and Brazil legend, who raised eyebrows among users of the social-media platform with his new look. Vinicius had no hesitation in making public his admiration for the former star, writing: "From another planet!"